I am not a Thrifter.

Growing up, I never really went to thrift stores much. We lived in a small town- and when we went to the "city", we would occasionally stop at the local Salvation Army.
My mom would take my sister and I there while Dad took the boys to the gun stores.

And then I married into a family of Thrifters.
My mother in law Linda, and my sister in law Roxie, truly have a talent for it.
They can spend a whole day jumping from store to store, finding toys, shoes, purses and cute clothes.

Every time Roxie is home, we plan to have a Thrift store day. I tell myself-maybe this time I will be good at it and I will find something worth my trip.

It never works.
I do not have the patience to dig through racks and racks of jumbled up clothes.
Inevitably when I do find something that I MIGHT be interested in, its size super-duper-small-would-fit-a-7-year-old.
And the smell. oh the smell.
So, I skip over the clothes, and check out the shoes.
"Oh! here's a cute pair"-- cannot talk myself into putting them on.
WHO KNOWS whose foot has been in there! ew.
so I walk over to the kids clothes.
"Oh, this could be cute..."--STAIN.
"Oh! this...WHAT IS THIS?!"
ugh
So then I head to the books. I normally have some luck in the books.
(because you can never have too many books. especially children's books!!)
So after picking up a few books..
I browse the toys.
Sometimes I find something that is worth taking home and cleaning.
Just the other day I found Kendra a Magna Doodle that she LOVES.

like this one

And then I look over the furniture and the dishes and such.

Every once in a while I'll find something that I can put to use.

But I am not a Thrifter.

(turns out, I get that from my mom)

I wish that I was.

I wish I had the talent that Roxie and Linda do!

but I don't.

and I'm okay with that.

because they find the cute stuff for me.

and on our Thrift days, we have a great time. Filled with Sonic drinks, and lots of laughs.

Kendra enjoying Sonic on our latest Thrift Store Day.









Did I ruin my daughter?

After I had Kendra, I had 6 weeks of maternity leave before returning to work full time.

I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom, and it's still a goal that we are working towards. But its not something we can do right now.

So in my new mama mind, it felt like I had 6 weeks to give my new baby girl my undivided attention.

We did lots of cuddling and snuggling... and didn't leave the house much.

When she napped I would cuddle her and watch Netflix.

Now I have a 15 month old, that fights with sleep, and does best when she's snuggling with mommy and daddy. (I can't say that I blame her... I don't like sleeping alone.)

Her schedule (I use the word schedule very loosely) normally goes as follows:

9:30 nurse to sleep

10:00 lay her in her crib
and on a good night, she wakes up at 3:00 am fussing..
normally I can pick her up and pop a paci in her mouth and she will go right to sleep.

on a bad night, she's up 2 or 3 times and I give up trying to put her in her crib and just bring her to bed with me.

Did I ruin her by holding her so much in the first 6 weeks of her life?

Will she ever be a good sleeper?

Is this just a phase?

I don't regret all those nap time snuggles in her first 6 weeks..

I would probably do it again.

Who am I kidding... I still cuddle her during naps sometimes..

 

Do any of you have babies that aren't good sleepers? What are your tips and tricks?

 

 

That is all.